How to Pitch an Antibiotic Stewardship Program to the Hospital C-Suite

Hospitals will soon require antibiotic stewardship programs. Infectious diseases specialists must craft business plans to engage hospital leadership to fund such programs. In this article, we review key cost and revenue elements that should be covered in such plans. Society is placing increasing emphasis on the importance of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). New regulatory standards require hospitals to implement ASPs. Infectious Diseases (ID) specialists will need to help design and implement such programs at hospitals. A critical component of establishing such programs is submitting a business plan to hospital leadership justifying the cost and structure of the ASP and explaining what benefits the hospital will gain in return. In this article, we explore typical elements of such business plans and describe how hospital leadership may evaluate and determine the value of such plans. Understanding hospital costs and revenue models is critical to creating a viable and realistic business plan to support ASPs.